


Be it ever so crumbled

by peaceloveandjocularity, stateofintegrity



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24461797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peaceloveandjocularity/pseuds/peaceloveandjocularity, https://archiveofourown.org/users/stateofintegrity/pseuds/stateofintegrity
Summary: After the episode “They call the wind Korea,” Charles decides not to go to Tokyo for r&r. Ever wonder why?
Relationships: Maxwell Klinger/Charles Emerson Winchester III
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Be it ever so crumbled

It had done Potter and Hawkeye, Margaret and Hunnicut (God forgive him, even Mulcahy) good to see Winchester return in so humbled a fashion: dirty, unshaven, wind-tousled, exhausted, personal property mangled. They teasingly began to call him “Why oh why do these things always happen to me Winchester.”

Too dignified to acknowledge their ribbing, the man quickly set himself back to rights. Tossing his alligator skin luggage with a violence he never would have tolerated from sometime-valet Klinger, he rummaged until he found fresh clothing and marched for the showers. The camp had felt the full effects of the windstorm; every free hand was now setting it to rights.

Charles refused to join in. “By rights I should be in Tokyo,” he declared, “so please continue on as if I am not here.”

This led, unsurprisingly, to BJ and Hawkeye loudly gossiping about his lack of manners, but the blows fell short.  _ Sticks and stones from hands and minds too crude for forged weapons _ , thought Winchester as he ducked beneath warm spray. A shave came next.

Restored, he took himself to the tent of Maxwell Q. Klinger. Potter had sent the wind-wracked clerk to rest. He wasn’t asleep when Charles found him, just groggy. He sat up when the surgeon appeared, but Charles motioned him back down.

“What are you doing here, Major?”

“I merely wanted to check on you.” His eyes were very sharp as they swept over him. “It occurred to me that you could have been injured in the storm and, stubborn as you are, I doubt you would have said.”

“I’m fine, Major.” A pale eyebrow lifted in question, prompting him. “Fine,” he admitted. “I’m a little banged up, but that’s all. A few bruises. Nothing that didn’t happen to you, I’m sure.”

“Klinger, I respect you mightily- more after your work last night - but you are not a diagnostician.”

“Major, you’re fussing over nothing. I’m fine.”

“If you are, then let me look at you.”

Klinger saw he wasn’t going to win. “And you call me stubborn,” he muttered, lifting his shirt. Charles reached out but Klinger flinched out of the touch.

Winchester chided him with a look. “Surely you’re not afraid to have my hands on you!”

He made it sound like a challenge and Klinger straightened to meet it, stayed still as he felt for broken ribs and reviewed a few fresh bruises. “You do seem well enough,” he said at last.

Klinger rearranged himself. “See? I told you. What had you so worried?”

“I needed to know you were hale enough that I might do this.” With one arm, he seized his waist and crushed him close, covering his startled mouth.

When he drew back, Charles kept his eyes closed, savoring. Klinger’s were much too wide.

“What was that!?!”

“What I wanted to do last night - and would have done had we been alone. I think your nurse’s uniform gave the Greeks enough to wonder over without me adding on.”

Klinger brought his fingers to his mouth, trying to confirm through touch what had just happened. “Why would you want to go and do that, Major?”

The uncertainty in his voice told Charles that he was probably in for pain if he held to this course.  _ You’re a Winchester _ , he reminded himself,  _ you can bear even this, even here. _ “It seems I may be mistaken. I thought, back there in the storm, there might be something between us. We work so well together. And I have come to admire you. I understand, of course, if you don’t return my regard.”

Klinger came closer, shaking his head at him. “That was pretty stuffy, Major, even for you. You’re hiding behind all those fine words. What are you really trying to say?”

It was a call to be a good deal braver than he wanted to be, especially since he had no way of telling if the risk he took would be rewarded. Did Klinger wish him to be explicit merely to mock him? “I, ah, I think I’m falling in love with you.”

“That was one hell of a kiss for ‘I think.’”

“Well, you could allow me the chance to find out for certain.”

“Oh?” His dark eyes glittered with promise.

“Let me stay. You already slept curled up into my back during the storm.”

The idea that Charles had watched him sleep - had maybe even tucked their meager coverings around him with a fond look - called up a surprising warmth in the Corporal. In the OR, Klinger had seen Charles’ efficiency, his brilliance - but rarely his gentleness. He liked this new look.

Concerned at the silence he was meeting, the surgeon tried to bargain. “I won’t kiss you again if you don’t want me to, Max. I-I give you my word.”

Gentle had become terribly exposed and Klinger knew, suddenly, to the center of his heart’s cells, how achingly lonely the man before him was. “Stay,” he said. 

They blew out the lanterns and lay down together. Klinger smiled at the wide-eyed way Charles looked on him. “You looked less frightened of the storm, Major.” 

Charles laughed. “Storms are an occasional disaster.  _ You  _ wreck me every day. With your smile… your clothes… your sweet, fast-talking mouth. Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to throw you down on one of these terrible cots and make you mine?” 

Klinger imagined it. He thought of those large hands gripping him, of Winchester using one leg to push his thighs apart. It was a damn convincing image. “I don’t know how I’ll compare to Tokyo when it comes to having a good time, Major, but I’m glad you decided not to go.” 

Charles drew him close. “So am I.” With Klinger in his arms, the 4077th, for the first time, felt just a little bit like home. 

End! 

  
  



End file.
